Viratprasert, Weir Smith win junior c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Thai teenager Suchayun Viratprasert survived a shaky start to beat Indonesian underdog Frederika Girsang for the girls singles title at the 1999 Indonesia Baskin-Robbins International Junior Championships on Saturday.

Second seed and world junior number 67 Viratprasert was forced to scramble back from a one-set deficit to beat the 484th-ranked Girsang 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.

"Frederika plays inconsistently because she lacks international tournament match experience. She could not maintain the form she displayed in the first set," Yayuk Basuki, the former Indonesian women's number one who is now coach to the Fed Cup team, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Girsang overcame top seed Nicole Rencken of South Africa 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinal.

In the boys singles, seventh seed and world number 191 Brandon Weir Smith trounced unseeded Tom Macquet 6-2, 6-1 in an all-South African final.

Weir Smith beat fellow countryman and top seed Peter Jon Nomdo in the quarterfinal and beat unseeded Indonesian Johan Samawi in the semifinal.

National girls pair of Angelique Widjaja and Nuraeni Batubara were forced to pull out the stops save some pride for Indonesia by defeating Japanese duo Kaori Aoyama and Kumiko Iijima 7-5, 6- 2.

In the boys doubles, the British first seeded partnership of James Nelson and Nick Greenhouse defended their title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Southa Africa's Nomdo and Raven Klassen. (ivy)